Beringen, Belgium

Beringen is a municipality and city in the Belgian province of Limburg. The municipality includes the town of Beringen proper and the old communes of Beverlo, Koersel and Paal. The area was already inhabited in Celtic times, as shown by the 1995 find of gold coins and artifacts from around 90 BC, the most northerly late Iron Age gold objects found in Europe. The first mention of Beringen dates to 1120, when it was known as Beringe, and it received its city charter in 1239 from the County of Loon. In 1366 the county was annexed to the Prince-Bishopric of Liege, and Beringen became one of the bishopric's 23 bonnes villes. Coal-bearing drill cores were obtained in the Campine in 1901, the first production in Koersel dates from 1919, and the last coal mine in Beringen closed on 28 October 1989. The Beringen Mine Museum and spoil tip retraces that industrial history.